Boxing glove



April 3, 1956 Filed July 9 1951 R. TEMPLE 2,740,120 BOXING GLOVE 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Hay Kemp/e ATTORNEY April 3, 1956 R. TEMPLE 2,740,120

BOXING GLOVE Filed July 9, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY but! BOXING GLOVE Ray Temple, St. Paul, Minn, assignor of one-third to Michael ODowd and one-third to Winston E. Hitt, St. Paul, Minn.

Application July 9, 1951, Serial No. 235,701 3 Claims. (Cl. 2--18) This invention relates to boxing gloves, and pertains more particularly to an improved pneumatic boxing glove.

One important object of the invention is to provide a lightweight flexible boxing glove of the pneumatic type that is especially suited for sparring and juvenile boxing, the glove reducing appreciably the likelihood ofinjury.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pneumatic glove requiring no packing or padding whatsoever. More specifically, it is a feature of the instant invention to employ an inflatable bladder having an air filling tube or stem connected thereto, the tube or stem being bendable into a recessed portion of the glove casing to thereby afford gripping means for the boxers fingers. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that both the usual blow producing padding and the finger gripping padding of conventional gloves are eliminated.

A further object of the invention, which is a corollary of the preceding object, is to so locate the valve stem that it will not be exposed and endanger the other boxer during use of the glove.

A still further feature of the invention resides in the employment of transverse grooves on the blow producing surface of the bladder, thereby permitting flexing of the glove into a curved configuration when the bladder is fully distended, the bladder otherwise having a natural tendency to resist such deformation.

A further feature of the invention resides in the detachable fastening of one edge of the glove liner to the interior of the casing to thereby permit easy insertion and removal of the bladder when the latter is deflated.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following description taken together with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my pneumatic boxing glove ready for use, and

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the bladder as it might appear in actual use within the glove casing.

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the glove taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, my boxing glove includes an outer casing of soft leather, such as kid or buckskin. In outward appearance the casing 10 resembles a conventional boxing glove and is accordingly provided with a thumb section 12 and a finger portion 14. Also, as in ordinary boxing gloves, the casing 10 is cutaway at 16 to permit entrance of the wearers hand and lacing 18 is employed to thereafter retain the glove on the hand, as is customary.

A fabric liner 20 is secured to the casing 10 along the major portion of its edges by stitching 22. A portion 21 of the liner extends into the thumb section 12, being similarly stitched at 23 to that part of the casing 10 defining the section 12. However, along one edge of the liner 20 there is provided a zipper 24 providing a closable opening for a bladder 26 hereinafter described. It will be understood that the liner 20 forms a space therebeneath for the encasement of the bladder 26 between said liner and ited States Patent 2,740,120 Patented Apr. 3, 1956 casing 10, and that the liner 20 leaves suflicient space thereabove for the accommodation of the boxers hand.

In order to adequately describe the bladder 26, it is shown inflated in Figure 2, assuming much the same position that it might assume in actual use. The curved or blow producing end 28 of the bladder is rendered flexible by the provision of a series of transverse grooves or flutes 30. In'this connection it will be appreciated that air pressure within the bladder tends to urge the end portion 28 into a generally straight line relationship with respect to the remainder of the bladder, which would of course impose an undue burden on the boxers clenched fingers in overcoming the aforesaid tendency. However, by providing the grooves or flutes 30 such a tendency for the bladder 26 to extend itself is appreciably reduced. The bladder 26 is provided with a thumb overlying portion 32 which is similarly grooved or fluted at various locations 34 to thereby facilitate the bending of the us'ers thumb when said portion '32 and the persons thumb are contained within the thumb section 12 of the casing 10. That portion 36 which overlies the boxers wrist'is also preferably fluted at locations 38 to permit ready flexing of the users wrist. Thus, it will be seen that all regions where flexing normally occurs are fluted or grooved, thereby considerably reducing the manual force necessary to overcome the inherent tendency of the bladder 26 to resist bending.

A valve stem 40 acts as the means for introducing air into the bladder, and from Figure 2 it will be observed that such a stem is tubular. Although the bladder 26 may be made of various plastic materials, its preferred composition is rubber, and it is also recommended that the tubular stem 40 be rubber. A suitable valve 41 is placed at the free end of the tube 40, and as will be presently made more apparent, such a valve 41 may be of metal without endangering the other boxer.

While the curved configuration depicted in Figure 2 represents one position that the bladder might assume when contained within the casing 10, the tube 40 is shown in an unrestrained position, as it might appear immediately after filling the bladder. Because the tube 40 is full of air and also due to its rather small diameter, the tube 40 is quite hard and fairly rigid. It is therefore within the purview of this invention to utilize the tube 40 as a finger gripping means, this being done by bending the tube 40 toward the bladder 26 after passing the tube through an aperture 42 in the liner 20. Accordingly, the casing 10 is made with an outwardly bulged or rounded transverse portion at 44 forming an inner recess 46 between the casing 10 and a backing layer 48 of fabric for the reception of the tube 40. in this connection it will be appreciated that a backing layer of fabric is usually employed in the palm area of the casing 10 to prevent the boxers skin from coming in direct contact with the leather. However, whether the layer 48 overlies the entire palm area or whether a special strip of fabric is utilized, all that is necessary in order to retain the tube 40 in the recess 46 is a double row of spaced parallel stitching 50 and 51 extending through the casing 1t) and the layer 48. Access to the recess 45 is then had by way of an aperture 52 in the layer 48, so that after the bladder 26 has been inflated, the tube 40 can then be inserted through this aperture 52 into the recess 46, the tube 40 then adequately serving as the gripping means for the boxers clenched fingers.

From the foregoing description, it is believed obvious that the zipper 24 is opened initially for the reception of the deflated bladder 26 in between the casing 10 and the liner 20, the opening provided by the zipper 24 permitting the portion 32 of the bladder to be tucked into the thumb section 12 of the casing. The valve 41 is then brought out through the aperture 42 and the opening 16. The zipper 24 is then zipped closed and the bladder 26 is filled 1 with air via the valve 41 and the tubular valve stem 40. The tube 40 is then easily forced through the aperture 52 into the dotted line position shown in Figure 1 within the recess 46. The glove is then ready for use.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principles of construction and operation of my boxing glove construction, and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that obvious changes may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A pneumatic boxing glove comprising a flexible casing, an inflatable bladder having a series of transverse flutes and an air filling tube, and a liner connecting with the sides and ends of the casing to form a glove which provides a space for the bladder and a space for the wearers hand, an aperture in said liner, the said liner being provided with a slit extending adjacent to one of the sides of the glove and detachably held together for the insertion and removal of said bladder, said casing having a transverse recessed portion adjacent that region accommodating the wearers fingers, the said filling tube extending through said aperture in said liner and into said recessed portion to provide finger gripping means.

2. A pneumatic boxing glove comprising a flexible casing provided with an outwardly bulging transverse portion extending over the major portion of the gloves width adjacent that region of the glove which accommodates the base of the wearers fingers, and an inflatable bladder provided with tubular valve means having a length approximating that of said bulging transverse portion, said valve means being restricted within said bulging portion, wheredby said tubular valve means may be received within said bulging portion to form finger gripping means when the wearers hand is clenched.

3. A pneumatic boxing glove comprising an outer casing including a hand enclosing section, a thumb section, and a wrist enclosing section, a portion of the casing overlying the palm and wrist being cut away to provide a longitudinally extending opening therein, lacings bridging said cut away portion and connecting the margins of said wrist enclosing section bordering said cut away portion, a liner having a hand enclosing section, a thumb section and a wrist enclosing section coextensive with the corresponding parts of the outer casing portions and positioned within said casing and marginally secured to said casing along the edge of the wrist and along the edges of the longitudinally extending opening to divide the interior thereof into a bladder compartment and a hand and wrist compartment, a bladder configured to have hand, thumb and wrist covering portions in said bladder compartment having portions thereof extending into the portion of the bladder compartmentopposite said lacings, whereby said bladder portion may be compressed by the tightening of said lacings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 531,872 Shibe Jan. 1, 1895 570,092 Harvey Oct. 27, 1896 800,058 Baker Sept. 19, 1905 1,632,322 Kennedy Mar. 29, 1927 2,563,724 Henry Aug. 7, 1951 

